Among the many problems associated with the utilization of radioactive materials is the disposal of the waste material. The prior techniques for such disposal included the encapsulation of the waste in a solid and the burial of that solid in designated sites. Both concrete and urea/formaldehyde resins have been so used. More recently it has been proposed that such wastes in solid form, aqueous solutions or slurries can be dispersed in unsaturated polyesters or vinyl ester resins and converted to a solid with droplets of the liquid dispersed therein.
Each of the prior techniques are useful with the aqueous wastes resulting from nuclear power plant operation. However, those techniques have severe shortcomings when attempts are made to use them with the radioactive organic solvent wastes from nuclear power plants, such as oils and also those wastes emanating from chemical and medical laboratories. Such wastes are usually water insoluble but may be soluble, partially soluble or insoluble in the resin system or may be a solvent for the resin system or parts thereof.
It is possible to disperse certain organic liquids that are water insoluble but partially soluble in the resin system by those prior techniques. However, above some relatively low concentration of such organic wastes, the organic material will phase separate. At that point the organic material acts like a plasticizer and even after resin cure, can migrate through the system. Since long term storage is the objective with radioactive wastes, such migration could defeat the purpose of encapsulation by having the waste at the surface.
Such wastes present a serious disposal problem of prime ecological concern.